


Eadar da theine Bhealtainn (Between the fires of Beltane)

by mae_linda



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Bonding, Humor, Multi, POV Multiple, Threesome - M/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-12
Updated: 2014-02-12
Packaged: 2018-01-12 03:12:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1181216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mae_linda/pseuds/mae_linda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Summary: On Beltane, the cycle of rebirth is completed. Twice tested by fire, love burns all the more strong. This is the story of how Harry, Severus and Draco become one. (multiple POV)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eadar da theine Bhealtainn (Between the fires of Beltane)

Eadar da theine Bhealtainn   
(Between the fires of Beltane)

We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end.   
Benjamin Disraeli

~Severus~

 

It has taken me until now to realize that my greatest asset - indeed the most important thing in my life - has always been my enchanting personality. It is either that or the men on either side of me are great buffoons. My buffoons though. And as much as I despise the idea of anyone calling me sentimental, I have no qualms about saying this: Severus Snape, you are a great sentimental twat. I can address myself however I desire in the privacy of my own head and I always do so, with utmost sincerity. I am certain that from the outside I look like a great big smitten fool, looking adoringly at them. My head moves, like at a tennis match, from one to the other, smiling stupidly all the while. Oh Merlin, if either wakes up now I shall kill them. Still bathed in moonlight, still prone and on top of me, they look like nothing I have ever seen. Not pure like angels, they have both seen too much, but not completely wicked either. Hmm…perhaps like fiends, but unaware of their power of seduction; delighted only to feast and be adored by their hapless victim. It soothes my ego that I have not surrendered myself to their tender mercy quite so easily, but now they can make me dance to their tune like nothing else. And I quite enjoy it, which shall undoubtedly get me into trouble if they realize this. I shall just have to ensure they are too busy to notice. 

Enough time has passed since I have met these two and it amuses me to realize that they are quite simply oblivious to the effect that they have on me at present. They have both been quite reticent in believing themselves to be in a true relationship. Thus far, and to my great surprise, only Harry has taken on himself to ensure Draco and I are quite aware that we were “for keeps”. Draco has always assumed he’ll survive if it doesn't work out, but I am sure, based on today, that he is greatly relieved that I wish for them both to be mine. In the end it is more or less clear that this is permanent, if their relaxed posture and possessive embrace is anything to go by.

Wrapping my arms tighter around their shoulders, I relax in the pillows and reluctantly turn my face toward the high windows of my Tower suite and remember. I remember when it all began, really began, which ironically coincides with my death at Nagini's fangs. Right there, I can see the middle of my life, and from then, the exact opposite of before, my life with Harry. The images become clearer and more colorful, from the dusty grey of the Shack to Wales, where Harry cared for me until I got better, then back to Hogwarts, my role as Headmaster, then as Harry’s love, and then my two loves with me for the first time. There is a succession of lights in my memories, sunshine, greenest Wales, and then Hogwarts rebuilt in full spring. Then rainbow patterns on my floor in the Headmaster’s office from the new stained glass window’s on the south side of the Tower. My Slytherin side asserted itself against the gay green and demanded a grey to cover it all and from I and he, emerged we.

I snort softly so as not to wake them, because my two snakes now both know Legilimency and I would never live it down if they were to know how I wax poetical. And about them, as well. But now my whole world is caught and I cannot take my eyes from the perfection of their moonlit bodies. Their personalities are reflected in their pose and looks: one dark, supple and sprawled while keeping a firm fist around my long hair, while my fairest love is burrowed between our entwined arms, soft and pliant and so trusting it hurts. It would take sunlight to hide their true selves and then everything changes. 

 

~Draco~

 

Early morning and dearest Severus is wide awake and mocking us gently. If it weren’t for the obvious tenderness, I’d hex him. It is a known fact that I do not do early mornings, not until I have either a kettle of tea or a mug of blackest coffee. Coffee is for emergencies though, like today, where the schedule is so full I want to scream. As Severus knows all too well. The fact that my coffee seems to be resting an inch from where I had left it the last time I thunked my head on my folded arms is merely annoying, but what Harry is suffering, that is just evil. It is a well known fact among the faculty that Harry detests cereal, specifically muesli. Ditto well known, Severus loves it and I tolerate it. The only way to get Harry to eat the stuff is to ensure that they are soggy enough and Harry is still snoring and doesn’t notice. 

Hence the early wake-up call and the Merlin-awful way in which Harry eats. Spoon up, in, down then up until it’s all eaten and Harry drops the spoon. It clanks and he is suddenly awake, and glaring. And then the fun begins, as two fingers are raised towards me in the universal gesture for “You-wanker-you-should-have-stopped-me” and one is pointed menacingly towards Severus. Who promptly opens his mouth to list the day’s schedule, thus causing us both to groan. Harry mutters something about brushing the taste of muesli out of his mouth while I wince when the coffee burns my tongue as I gulp it down and flee for the lecture I am scheduled to give. 

As Headmaster, Severus has decided on holding the Beltane celebrations at Hogwarts and extending them so that the anniversary of the Battle is encompassed in the celebrations. This included all the traditions and it was my job to tell the kids about maypoles and the amplifying influence of the Beltane moonshine on magic. And it’s Harry’s job to teach them about bonfires and their significance since he’s also to teach them how to make them safely. He is after all the lower year’s favorite teacher. I suspect it has to do with his habit of caring sweets and gifting them to students “in need of cheering up”. And really, sometimes being the History Professor really sucked because even if they didn’t dare doze in my class, they would rather learn about menial jobs, like setting up bonfires by hand. Not that I don’t get it, Harry is the one who best knows how to create need fire and as for his job, he deserves to do what he enjoys doing since most of his life had been decided for him. And Severus also knows something Harry doesn’t, I am afraid of fires, especially large ones, because they remind me of my death. I was reborn then and began to rediscover myself but I am by no means comfortable with the experience or eager to relive it.

Before Harry, I had had Severus whom I trusted and loved and for that reason could not ever make him take on the burden of my Sixth year’s nightmare. At the time I didn’t realize how much he'd meant to me, until I was helpless and bleeding and he was crooning above me, healing me with utmost care. He couldn’t save me from the horror that followed, but he kept me alive so that eventually it was purged in the fire of the Room of Requirement. Born again, I could see him as he was, not as my childish fantasies wished him to be. Tall and strong, he had been my rock, my beloved guardian. But I realized, as I experienced what happened after the Sectusempra curse, that he later confessed to having invented himself, and that was my first hint to what was to come. I watched it as in a dream, my life progressively getting darker until I nearly disappeared while still alive. Severus was my last hope and before he went into that Shack he told me to take care of myself. And I told him I loved him. And then that fire, in the Room of Requirement.

Holding Harry’s hand and looking into his eyes I found out something that shocked me into nearly letting go. I had no idea I was capable of trusting Harry, or of leaving Vince behind or even surviving in a world where my parents were wrong and I was alone in forging my own destiny. I feel like I am covered in Harry’s cloak and I only get glimpses of myself when I do something especially un-Malfoy. It is amusing and terrifying and I cannot imagine how I could have believed I could live without this love, both of them being the catalysis of my discovery. It was my journey but I would never be lonely, not with Severus’ invincible protection and Harry’s caring love. 

I shake myself out of my maudlin thoughts as I hear the knock on the door. The lecture has been over for an hour and Severus has come to find me. 

“You know, Professor Malfoy, your students will begin to think you are in love if you keep to yourself so.” I feel my chest hurt as his deep, hoarse rumble caresses my spine and makes me grin. You wouldn’t think he was the most feared Professor of them all by looking at him now. His hair is long to his elbows, loose with only the last few inches caught in a silver clasp. He looks older now but it suits him better, and when his eyes are soft on you it is the most amazing feeling ever. Standing now, I tilt my head and kiss him softly, appreciating the irony of his words like a delicate wine. It is time to find Harry.

 

~Harry~

 

Today is the day we finally become one. Today Severus, Draco and I surrender ourselves to the Beltane fire that will unify us. I am at once happy and anxious for it to be done. I want them both and want to show them that. Instead I sit here with the kids around me, enjoying the fire and the marshmallows. Well, strictly speaking they shouldn’t be eating marshmallows exactly but the traditional pie would have ended up trampled in their haste to not eat it. So, they are eating marshmallows over a bonfire that should be sacred, and which they do not appreciate. Time for some drastic measures. I get up and plan to explain to the kids the significance of Beltane when I spot two figures coming our way. 

“Oh, Professor Malfoy is coming to see us,” Marjory Rowan mutters, making her friends titter. 

“No, dummy, he’s here for Professor Potter,” one of the more perceptive Slytherin boys drawled, before nudging Marjory and adding, “as you would know if you could look past Professor Malfoy’s hands and I believe, hair?" He made the last sound like a question although the truth was that the entire faculty was aware of the fascination the female student body had with Draco’s hair.

Considering this, I fail to reprimand them for their cheek, and they take this as approval. Poor misguided kids, they’ll regret it in the morning when they realize that they are the ones who have to clean up the bonfire and marshmallow mess, by hand because the site would be too magically charged. I would have helped, but now I think I will be just a little too busy adoring my men in the morning light. Soft-eyed from sleep and warm to the touch, they will undoubtedly be too lazy to do anything except be adored, slowly, tenderly and will all my heart.

And of course both are within seeing distance, so my thoughts, so plainly written in my eyes, are easy for them to spot. They hurry their pace and I nearly laugh but decide not to. Instead I turn to the kids and inform them and Neville that I am leaving. When I turn back around Severus passes me with a touch to my wrist and goes to speak to Neville while Draco takes my hand to lead me away. I squeeze his hand and Draco smiles back at me and we both grin wider when we hear Severus begin to lecture the kids on the proper conduct of a Hogwarts student as well as the fitting punishment should anyone behave in an undignified manner. 

By this point all I want is to have them both beside me, preferably somewhere where my ravishing ways will not be observed by little kiddies. So I grip Draco’s hand tighter and make sure we get to our rooms in half the time it would have taken at Draco's dignified walk Once ensconced I could no longer help delving inside his mouth. Merlin, I want him, but not yet, must wait for Severus. I growl as I force my hands into Draco’s hair so I cannot touch his cock or arse. If it weren’t for Beltane and our bonding, I’d fight it. And as I grab and pull and move Draco in just the right position so I can kiss him breathless, Severus comes in and pulls me off. I’m about to launch myself at him when I am restrained by the most powerful spell in the world – Severus’ look, the one that promises untold pleasures if I behave. I surrender, for now. 

 

~Severus~

 

Harry once confessed when I was delirious with the pain from Nagini’s bite that when he died and came back, he believed that he had left something behind. At the time I thought he had regressed to his childhood, the way he was muttering about train stations and lost allegiances. What I do remember is that he told me he abandoned his Gryffindor nature on the Threshold. I was so shocked I actually hurt myself trying to ask him to explain. And when he told me, I nearly choked in surprise. According to my Harry, he left a helpless cripple without even trying to comfort “it” and trusted Narcissa Malfoy while spurning Hagrid. I told him "rubbish, he was just as foolishly brave for it," but time and experience proved me wrong. Then one night Harry was talking about inviting Draco into our relationship and while I agreed on principle I also teased him that with two Slytherins he would be in trouble. He got up from my lap, cross my office, got the Hat, and put it on – it screamed “Slytherin!” 

There has never been a time when I understood better what he meant than now, in that moment when he looked into my eyes as I entered the room to complete our bond. It had pained him, pained all three of us to not consummate our love this previous month, a month of privately fantasizing about our bonding. It would finally become true and permanent tonight. But not before we purified our bodies in water as later the fire will purify and merge our souls. So Harry’s passion should be tamed and I was the designated tamer as one look at Draco showed how ready he was to give in. Holding Harry tightly and never breaking eye contact I moved all of us to the bath. Everything was ready, and having recovered somewhat, Draco took on the role of purifier. The least guilty of us three, he undressed, bathed and pampered us in turn until we were clean and relaxed and malleable in his hands. 

Rising from the water, Harry looked back at us before leaving to prepare the fire. It was his element, incandescent as his fury and his passion are. I cradled Draco as I washed him and by his smile he was enjoying it all enormously, as was I. We were ready to move from the bath when Harry came back in and gave us the look he reserved for his more forceful and inventive exploits in bed. We got up and followed as one. 

Bondings usually happen near the Beltane fires but Harry had specially prepared a fire that we could use. Lit all around the room were torches because the modified chamber could not be lighted otherwise and in the middle of it were only two things - our bed and a bonfire large enough that it could envelop all three. The windows in the tower room had had their curtains drawn back, because this high no one would be able to see anything, even if they could look beyond the glamoured windows. The sheets look gold-red in the light but I know they are pristine white, ready to be mussed and spoiled by our lovemaking after we walked through the fire.

A hand in each of ours Draco walks into the fire on the same step. It is warm but the sort of warm that felt like home, like acceptance, like desire and love rolled into one. We burn with it and eventually the fire turns to embers and we are released, our auras visible, and for the first moments of our return, I could see us as we each are: deepest red, pearlescent and purple. The strength of Harry’s faith and the fragility of Draco’s nascent identity are there for all to see, but it is my aura that surprises me – it is my first palpable sign that we are compatible, my aura glowing as the combination of Harry’s red and the blue that Draco’s promised to become. Together, when our magic united we would be the exact color that flames turn at their hottest, just before fading to white. 

In my hand Draco’s is trembling and I realize why when I look at them as they kiss. Harry’s passion seems almost to reignite the fire and so we step away from the embers and fall onto the bed to better enjoy that passion. It had taken us six years to reach this moment and as I lay back Harry crawls on top of me to steal my breath. Draco is right beside him and together they manage to create a delicious burn low in my stomach so that I am desperate and near delirious with too much pleasure. And yet I yearn for more so that as I am guided to hands and knees I can no longer wait and have to suck and bite at the nearest bit of flesh to satisfy a part of my hunger. I hear Harry’s chuckle in counterpoint to Draco’s gasp and I have to smirk. It is with utmost tenderness that they touch me, long smooth strokes over my sides from Harry and graceful, slow touches across my back from Draco, and it makes me moan to think of it. For a moment we stop, and I am hugged from behind and I am warm all over as I hear and feel breath on my ear and my nape. Draco is now level with my face and the way he peppers my face with kisses I can almost mistake this for the afterglow.

Except it isn’t and this becomes so very clear when Harry moves just so and suddenly four hands begin to drive me insane. Slowly, my mouth travels from Draco’s mouth to his chin, his collarbone to his belly where I set up camp before I move lower. Each progressive downward kiss is triggered by Harry’s actions as well as his roving kisses reach my back. It goes on in circles where actions are repeated with more and more fervor and with the utmost care, we are finally ready. It is languid, the give and take, and as I feel them both at either end, I reach my hands for both. It is an odd position to be in, a hand on each of my lover’s hips, their hands over mine, keeping me grounded and making me fly.

Caught between the desire to soar and the need to take them with me I tense and to my great satisfaction, they are by my side. They stay still and breathe in while their hands gentle me back to them. I am safe where I am; I am loved and accepted as myself. I joke weakly that they are out of their minds to accept everything but they just chuckle and move me so I rest between them. The quiet nothings countered by my retorts grow more silly and more fond until they finally move to their preferred position, half on top of me. 

The candles have extinguished some time ago, possibly by our bonding magic, so all I see now is one pale, silken head on my right shoulder and a dark, tousled beyond. My two snakes, my two angels. The ones that love me as I am. Humph. It has taken me until now to realize that my greatest asset - indeed the most important thing in my life - has always been my enchanting personality …

**Author's Note:**

> Written for hds_beltane on LJ in 2009.


End file.
